Ammonia abundance in Jupiter's atmosphere derived from the attenuation of the Galileo probe's radio signal

Abstract

The radio signal from the Galileo probe to the orbiter experienced attenuation due to ammonia in Jupiter's atmosphere during the probe descent. A profile of the ammonia content as a function of depth in the atmosphere has been derived from the measurements of the attenuation. The derived ammonia abundance rises to a molar fraction of 700 ±100 parts per million for pressures greater than 7 bars, about 4 times that expected based on the solar abundance of nitrogen. Copyright 1998 by the American Geophysical Union.